A House with Good Bones [October 1, 2023]

[Yanique, Thread Master]

This is a Buddy Read of A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher starting on October 1, 2023.


Happy Reading

[Ann-Marie]

Started the audio tonight, my journey of T Kingfisher's work continues <3

[Nirkatze]

I'll be here soon! Going to do Codex Alera first, then join in here!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Started...

Chapter 1: (view spoiler)[reading the blurb, it sounds like Mom killed someone, and buried them in the backyard... (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 2: (view spoiler)[getting into the book, tho, it feels more like Mom is being haunted by racist/old-timey Grandma? (hide spoiler)]

Maybe I'm just jumping from one kneejerk conclusion to the next, tho... fun to theorize, at least...

Looking at ratings, this is Kingfisher's lowest rated book other than Twisted Ones and maybe some magazine short stories...

[Ann-Marie]

Through chapter 8 (view spoiler)[and I still do not know what is going on. The grandmom was abusive as well as racist although I am not sure if there was a reason she impaled Sam's hands wit thorns when she was a child. And I am sorry, if thousands of ANY kind of bugs were in my house I'd flip out not carefully relocate them outdoors. Nope, just nope. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Ann-Marie wrote: "Through chapter 8 [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[I'm a bug killer... I know there's concern that alot of bug species are less common these days, maybe going extinct... but I don't want them around me, no matter how valuable they are to the ecosystem...

And living in apartments, I just know when I see 1-2, my neighbors probably have 100s... and all I can do is deal with the ones I see, and hope the quarterly bug spray visits from the landlord+exterminator keep them at bay... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

"This is why entomologists drink"

"This is also why entomologists drink"

:D

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I'm retaining 0 of the scientific info included at the start of each chapter...

[Tonari no Emily]

Loving this one. The humor is spot on for me. And also pretty creepy. I wasn't sure how far I was because Scribd says there's 39 chapters and I don't think that's accurate... Had to wait till the start of the next one to figure it out for sure. Just finished chapter 19(view spoiler)[ and IDK why because obviously Grandma is haunting the house, but I wasn't expecting her to show up and say hello lol

I probably could have gone without reading the sleep paralysis stuff because that happens to me quite often, I don't need more fuel for my hypnopompic hallucinations. Creepy rose finger hands stroking my hair sounds awful (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Chapter 6-8 now, too: (view spoiler)[Lady Bugs are the cutest bugs... and get alot more love than they deserve, I think?... just because of their coloration and stuff...

I think I've heard they aren't that great... also, they end up in the weirdest places... several months ago, I saw an article/image of one that was found living in someone's butthole, when they went in for a colonoscopy...

PRE-EDIT: bit of googling says they're good for gardens, not great indoors... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Amazon says there are 27 chapters... a listing of 40 chapters means they're including the breaks that tell you "First Day, Second Day, etc" are being counted as chapters, even tho they're probably only 5-10 seconds long...

[Ann-Marie]

Dammit I am falling behind, why do people keep calling me this morning?!?!?!?!?! lol

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I feel like I've been pausing alot, to talk here, or do other stuff online/discord... so the book is taking longer than it otherwise might... listening at 2.5x speed to absorb details... overall, that makes it a sub-3hr book...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Things are coming together... I'm in the final 1/3 of the book... (view spoiler)[I think the MC was a bit quick to dismiss the sleep paralysis dreams, considering the blood & stuff... but I know people aren't going to assume rose ghost grandma in real life :D

BUT... alot of weird stuff had been going on, already...

Was great to see Mom come clean and start swearing...

The vultures give me serious Jungle Book vibes :D

Wasn't expecting the witchy friend to really identify as a witch, and know about shamanism, and link this all back to the creepy great-grandfather...

Is the MC gonna hook up with Phil, the landscaper?... or is that just a random side element for realism that isn't really going anywhere? (hide spoiler)]

[Tonari no Emily]

Re Phil (view spoiler)[ I'm not sure if that will be a thing or not, but I did enjoy MC's slip of the tongue when she blurted out "you're ripped" or something like that LOL (hide spoiler)]

[Ann-Marie]

Through chapter 22 (view spoiler)[was the evil grandmom the buffer between the even more evil great-grandfather???

Tonari no Emily wrote: "Re Phil [spoilers removed]"

That was funny lol (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Finished this a few hours ago, and went shopping and forgot to comment again...

The ending sequence reminded me a bit of Twisted Ones...

(view spoiler)[I liked how the MC and Phil situation ended... and how MC dealt with Grandma with some hard facts and swearing...

The actual ending was a bit simple/rushed, due to the length of the book, and just a general vagueness to the MC's belief in magic/etc...

Lots of horizontal Texas hate :D (hide spoiler)]

[Ann-Marie]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Finished this a few hours ago, and went shopping and forgot to comment again..."

Hey it will be centuries until they make it through Texas lol

I finished as well (view spoiler)[and when I started the book I would not have guessed they would have to fight something like the Underground Children! It did not go where I was expecting and that is a good thing because like halfway through I was thinking maybe her horror books were not for me but I ended up enjoying this quite a lot. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

You should check out her other books... Twisted Ones is like Faerie Portal Hill People... and Hollow Places is about weak spots in the fabric of reality leading to a twisted watery world...

Hollow Places was my favorite of her scarier offerings... and my very first T. Kingfisher book... 2 years ago now, I think...

[Tonari no Emily]

I loved both of those books! This was pretty similar in terms of weird/unsettling horror but with plenty to love in terms of characters

[Nirkatze]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Started...

Chapter 1: [spoilers removed]

Chapter 2: [spoilers removed]

Maybe I'm just jumping from one kneejerk conclusion to the next, tho... fun to theorize, at least...

Looking at ratings, t..."

Just started! As I said in the Spooktober thread, I'm really liking the MC and the setup. I definitely got the 2nd impression Iain got from Day Two--though, adding on to the Title of the book, (view spoiler)[I'm thinking someone buried in the house (the "good bones") is haunting the owners--from the Grandma earlier, and now the Mom--maybe the lady in the wedding picture. At first I thought it was Grandma haunting... but why start there? Wouldn't it make sense if Grandma was also being haunted/possessed/influenced? (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Timelord Iain wrote: "I'm retaining 0 of the scientific info included at the start of each chapter..."

LOL I'm loving all the scientific stuff! Maybe not the chapter start info, but the little bits that are getting scattered around. Like identifying vultures. Or trash heaps v. burial grounds. Or how scientific sites get moratoriums on them (view spoiler)[if they find human remains... which I guess is also good foreshadowing for the whole book's issue. I wonder if the MC's etymology knowledge is going to come in use? Science v. Ghosts, bring it! Or don't. Let's not bring it. No ghosts please. Life, please don't take that as an invitation to haunt me... (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Ann-Marie wrote: "Through chapter 8 [spoilers removed]"

I was totally thinking about that! (view spoiler)[the ladybug scene! When she crunched down on something I was like "it's bugs it's bugs it's BUGS!!" and then stopped to wonder... huh. Bugs. Maybe Entomologists don't have the same reaction to bugs...

Also realized I'm getting Entomology and Etymology mixed up in my comments. Whoops! Which is almost sort of meta.

I'm starting to wonder if the whole "Below Children" or whatever the Grandma used to scare the kids with might be children who were literally buried... under the rosebushes. Not sure how that connects to the whole Old Lady spirit in the house... unless maybe they were Black children murdered by the original Old White Lady?

And I'm really wondering what is up with the connection to the lady--the witch?--down the street. The overheard conversation between her & the mom made me think that they are both aware of whatever weirdness is going on in the house... maybe even trying to do something about it? (hide spoiler)]

I swear I'm laughing like every few minutes--at least a snort. Enjoying the little humorous bits.. "This is also why Entomologists drink" and "bladder's revenge for Texas." I have a bumper sticker over the door in my garage that was left there by the previous owner of my house. It says "Please God, just let me get through Wasilla." I feel like Texas applies there too. BTW, there's a lot of good fishing and camping on the other side of Wasilla... which is boondocks red-necky for up here.

[Nirkatze]

"My aunt lives in Pasadena"
"I'm sure there's less murder cultists now."
"I'm not."

Up to Chapter 14 (view spoiler)[Huh, I wasn't expecting the turn into Great-Grandpa's child homunculus experiments. Could that the be shadow/below/forget the word children mentioned by Grandma? Failed experiments buried in garden? Grandma's ghost hanging around is actually the protector ghost?

The sleep paralysis must have been the child bone hand. I was a little distracted because MC thought it was too small to be bones, but child's hand makes sense. But why just the hand? What's up with the rest of the body?

Wondering if this is going to take Frankenstein/The Son evil child turn... (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

"I'm not good with people having emotions around me. I don't even really like having them myself"--awww! Murderbot vibes!

[Nirkatze]

Up through Chapter 21--(view spoiler)[Was really glad to see everything come out into the open, and the mom get her cursing out in the car. She's dealing with a haunting, but not possessed! Whew!

And so satisfying when Gma does show up... and after a few minutes of awkward dinner, Sam stands up to her. "She thinks attacking my looks is insulting? I survived academia. Come at me through my doctoral thesis, bitch!" I loved her comeback to "when was the last time a man looked at you" and pretty much everything else. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Nirkatze wrote: ""I'm not good with people having emotions around me. I don't even really like having them myself"--awww! Murderbot vibes!"

What to do, when books make you teary-eyed at work?...

[Nirkatze]

Timelord Iain wrote: "What to do, when books make you teary-eyed at work?..."

I think that's a sign to go have an emotion in private... LOL

Or I just cry in front of my students and they give me food to make me feel better and promise to get all their work turned in. It works. Not that I get to read at work though.
>.<

[Nirkatze]

Finished last night! Really enjoyed it--though I think that I enjoyed the book as a whole more than the story itself, if that makes sense? Like, the main plot--the horror & mystery--were secondary to the enjoyment, which was primarily based in the snarky characters and fun science.

[Ann-Marie]

Nirkatze wrote: "Finished last night! Really enjoyed it--though I think that I enjoyed the book as a whole more than the story itself, if that makes sense? Like, the main plot--the horror & mystery--were secondary ..."

That makes sense although I do not have a science brain so most of that was just me reading through to get to the good parts lol